The Grey Apprentice
by Simmens
Summary: Nura is the secret apprentice of Darth Sidious, but after being taught the Jedi way in order to know her enemy and to destroy them, she finds herself agreeing with it. What will she do in the middle of the war, not really belonging to either side? Follow her way through the Clone Wars (AU).
1. Origin

**Hello, thanks for clicking the link to get here ;-) I wrote this story because I didn't find many stories with that kind of background and plot, so I decided to write one by myself. I hope you enjoy and please don't judge too hard (only my second fic). Let me know what you think of it.**

Swetting, Nura brought her red lightsabers (a red shoto and a normal red colored lightsaber) up and deflected a blow from another lightsaber delivered by a Magma Guard. It was fast, she had to admit, but nothing compared to the power and the speed which the force supplied. Not that it needed to be proven anymore as it was the last droid standing, while the other 9 were lying on the floor, either crushed by the hand of the force or by her lightsabers.

Deciding to allow herself some fun with the droid after the workout session, she seized attacking and focused on defending herself with her lightsaber. But the game became boring pretty fast and she just did a backflip, deactivated her weapon while doing so and once she hit the ground in a crouch, she simply crushed the droid by curling her hand into a fist.

An unknowing spectator could easily think her to be a Jedi youngling or an apprentice, practicing her fighting skills. A more experienced person would have wondered about the unique color of the lightsabers as the main colors were green, blue, yellow and, not to forget, Mace Windu's famous purple. A Jedi however, would have drawn his lightsaber immediately on sight since red was associated with the Sith.

He wouldn't be wrong. She had been secretly trained by Darth Sidious, known by the galaxy as Chancellor Palpatine. He hadn't told her much about her heritage, only that he had freed her from a miserable life when she was still young. From there on he had been tutoring her in the ways of the Sith, teaching her the traditions of the rule of the Two, of Darth Bane and how he had destroyed the old Sith cult and reemerged stronger than before.

He had told her about the ways of the Jedi and how foolish they were to cling to centuries old beliefs and training. And how the Sith were exploiting that flaw by becoming stronger with each generation, by adapting so the darkness could survive the light and by concealing themselves to wait for the right moment.

Of course, knowledge alone wasn't the power the Sith cult wanted to achieve, so Nura had been taught and trained in the various forms of fighting. By the age of 14 she had mastered all seven forms, having been taught the art of Makashi by Count Dooku himself, though her identity had been kept a secret. Around that time, Nura didn't see her Master very often as he focused his attention on his politic career as part of his plan.

As a result, Nura was often left in Sidious' secret manor to train. But it was also the beginning of the doubts. As her master liked to say, one would have to know ones enemies to defeat them, thus having created a library of some sort about the Jedi, their code and their teachings. He had even encouraged her to read about it. But unknown to him, she had gradually developed interest in the Jedi way, leading to respect and admiration.

She had compared their history to their arch-enemies one and deemed both of them only to be two halves of the force, which could complement each other when balanced. She agreed to the Jedi way but also came to the conclusion, that when defending ones beliefs or fighting for the freedom of other people, one should not hold back one's emotions. Granted, they shouldn't control their wielder, rather the other way around, but used properly, could make the difference between victory and defeat, protecting an innocent live or letting it die.

She had never told her master or Dooku for that matter about her thoughts and insights, but rather kept them to herself, as she knew very well that neither of them would understand or appreciate them. It also helped in performing her act of a devoted Sith apprentice that she had learned how to change her presence in the force by a holocron created from Darth Bane's first apprentice. Using this technique, she changed her presence to something darker, something that would fit in with how she was expected to be.

Remembering her past, Nura left the training area with only scrap metal left for other droids to clean up and walked towards the showers. Currently, Nura was on the planet Naboo, her father's home-planet in the Palpatine manor. It was quite remote so no one knew of her existence or of his secret doings. When she finished showering, she went outside and walked towards her own, secret place, located about an hour away by foot, a clearing she had discovered while on training runs.

There, she sat down in the middle of a clearing in the forest and started meditating. It was always refreshing to embrace both sides, the dark and the light as the first made her feel powerful and warm and the second which always calmed her down and felt pleasantly chilly. After two hours, it was almost dawn, she stood up and walked over to an old tree. She knelt down and got a cylindrical object out of the hole.

It was a shoto, a shorter version of her normal lightsaber as the name already implied. The difference about this one was that its blade was blue. She had secretly constructed it with spare parts and a blue crystal she had stolen from her master (he kept the ones from Jedi he had killed). It was the perfect way of expressing her view of the force to the outward. Activating both of them, the red and the blue one, Nura begun training, pFerfecting the moves she had already learned without the training droids that would without doubt report an incident such as a Sith fighting with a Jedi weapon to Sidious.

As it dawned, she walked back to her home. It was dark once she arrived but it didn't matter to her as the force guided her steps and helped making her way through uneven ground. She then watched the holonet-news which were interrupted by her com. Quickly, she put on her Sith robe and pulled the hood over her face. In addition, she put a scarf over her mouth. The person which appeared was dressed in a dark robe covering his face so that only his mouth could be seen. In general, it was a good disguise when threatening individuals who mustn't learn of his identity, but for some reason he insisted appearing like this when talking with her. Maybe it was for security reasons.

"Hello Darth Imperia" he greeted her while she simultaneously sank to her knees. He had named her that after the construction of her first own lightsaber. In the old Sith language, it meant empire, an hommage to what had once been.

"Hello Darth Sidious", she replied, careful to keep her voice neutral, "how are the plans proceeding". She knew he had plans he was executing while he was away, however he told them the details about them. Why? Nura didn't know. She couldn't say that it didn't bother her, but she also knew that pressing on that matter wouldn't help either, so she just let it go.

"Good", he replied with a smirk, "in face, very good. We have captured the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi on Geonosis. He will be sentenced to death and executed tomorrow. It is all going according to my plan. I want you to pack your things, travel to Geonosis and meet Count Dooku. I want you to be there".

"As you wish", Nura bowed my head, trying to keep up the act of respect and support as the transmission was terminated.


	2. Geonosis - Part I

In the following morning, after waking up, Keira gathered some clothes and everything necessary to last a few days. 'Always be prepared for most things' was her motto and as she didn't have a very reassuring feeling concerning her time on Geonosis, it was better to prepared. She didn't know why she should go to Geonosis anyway, but something vital was about to happen there.

After preparing the ship and doing a few pre-flight checks because it hadn't flown in quite some time (according to her master it had once belonged to his old apprentice). Checking her equipment one last time and making sure she had both her red and blue shoto as well as her normal red lightsaber with her, Nura ignited the repulsorlifts and carefully flew through the corridor connecting the secret hangar below the mansion with the surface and once in the clear took off and entered hyperspace.

After four hours in hyperspace which I spent with meditating (Author's note: Sorry, I really don't know how long the flight takes, so have mercy with me when I am wrong), I finally arrived at my destination. Once out of hyperspace Nura noticed that some of the asteroids looked out of place, she couldn't quite place her finger on it, but it looked like a huge detonation had taken place. After entering the code that permitted me safe passage to one of the landing pads, I opened the ramp and was greeted by the sight of Count Dooku.

"Greeting, Darth Imperia" he more or less welcomed Nura. He didn't like her, she being his rival in the eyes of the Sith. And they both knew who was the better duelist and the favorite of Sidious. "Greetings, Darth Tyrannus . I heard you have captured two Jedi"

"Yes, Kenobi and his padawan Skywalker" he spat out the last name like it was venom. "How exactely did you manage this?" Nura inquired farther and now Tyrannus looked genuinely surprised that she didn't know.

"Kenobi was caught while spying on us and that foolish Skywalker tried to rescue him with senator Amidala he was tasked to protect" At this, Nura snorted. After all it wasn't such a smooth move actually walking into the Nexu's den with a person tasked to protect. But she was surprised to hear Amidala's name, the name that had disgraced the trade federation so long ago.

He continued, "And, as our master surely has told you, they are bound to be executed tomorrow. It will be quite a show as Poggle the Lesser had placed some of his pet creatures at our disposal."

Under the mask, Keira made a face. Death by animal, there were better ways to go, but she didn't let any of her thoughts register on her exterior. "Shall we go then?" she said and made a mental note to maybe give the senator something to even the chances. The Jedi could fight for their own, they were trained to do so but the senator was vulnerable and after what Nura had heard, she deserved something to give her a change.

They walked towards two speeders close by. Nura hated being dependent on the Count but seeing that she only knew the planet from star charts and had never visited it, she had to follow him as he obviously knew what he was doing.

During our flight they didn't talk because, well, they weren't very keen on talking to each other. Or it might be the noise of the wind lashing in both of their faces, Keira thought. Pick the one you are more comfortable with.

They finally entered a cave-like entrance and landed, when Dooku spoke again, "I was just about to talk to Kenobi to hint at the fact that Darth Sidious had influence on the senate. You are welcome to accompany me, not that you would need an invitation", he quickly added the last part of the sentence.

She motioned for him to go ahead. Somehow, Nura preferred this way. Her master was keen on walking in front of everybody, leading them but somehow she fell behind automatically, definitely not trusting the Count with her back.

After three turns left and another four left, Nura decided that she really did hate the geonosian architecture but her thoughts quickly focussed on the man trapped in a force field when they entered the room that was obviously their destination. Nura had seen pictures of him, the first Jedi in hundreds of years to actually face and kill a Sith. He looked older than in the holopictures and didn't exactly seem pleased at his situation. "I am afraid this is a terrible mistake my old friend. This is madness" Dooku said in what had to be his most fake sincere tone ever. "I thought you were the head behind this, Dooku" he replied.

"And who is that? A slave of yours" Kenobi inquired, an insult obviously directed at the Count. He must have drawn that conclusion simply by the facts that she was accompanying Tyrannus and the lack of a significant presence in the force as Nura was still hiding it. For a brief two seconds, she let her guard down and her force presence flashed, not at the full strength because she didn't want to reveal all her secrets to the enemy before hiding it again. The look on the Jedi's face was priceless, he hadn't expected that.

"So you have fallen to the Sith as well." he stated, Nura just crossing her arms in front of her, thereby intentionally moving the cloak so he could see her lightsabers. The whole time, she remained silent and cautiously protected the one thing that could reveal anything about her: her voice. Kenobi seemed to notice that, too. "Your companion doesn't like speaking, does she?"

He must have guessed her gender from her figure. Deciding it was necessary to come back to business, Dooku continued and revealed that the Sith were essentially in control of the senate. Obviously, the Jedi didn't believe him, deep in denial and nothing was going to change that anytime soon, so they just left.

Once out in the corridor, Dooku turned to Nura. "I still have to make some arrangements" and promptly walked off. Well, there it was, she was in this labyrinth alone. But maybe this would give her the opportunity of helping the senator. Nura sighed and used the force to locate the whereabouts of Amidala. Once she found her, Nura made her way towards her location. Pity that the force mainly provided her with a sense of general direction, not taking the architecture into account that consisted of ways that would suddenly turn in a different direction. As expected, the senator was in a different cell than Skywalker. Perfect. Nura opened the door and found her bound to the wall with her hands tied above her head.

"What do you want", she spat. When Nura stepped towards her, she lashed out with her feet but the Sith simply blocked the blow with the force. Her eyes widened. "Are you a Jedi?". She shook her head and simply pulled something from Nura's utility belt and stuck it into her bun. Ignoring her surprised look, Nura turned around and left without another word.


	3. Geonosis - Part II

Nura took the way back she had come to Amidala's cell and soon found herself on the corridor where Dooku had left her. Now, where to go in this dammed place, not to mention the horrendous heat! Whoever had invented the robes force users usually wore, they most definitely had only thought about how one looked in them and not quite about its functional aspect.

"Mistress Imperia, Count Dooku has instructed me to take you to him" a protocol droid, which was painted in dark and light red colors similar to Geonosis iron-rich soil stalked out of an aisle on her right. "Follow me, if you would." Inclining her head slightly as a sign of approval she was secretly glad that the droid led the way through this nightmare of modern architecture.

Allowing the force to wash over her, Imperia granted herself a moment of content while enjoying the feeling it always created until the machine leading her stopped and gestured towards a group of people. They were standing at the end of a darkish tunnel. "We have arrived, Mistress".

Nobody had noticed her yet. And granting the youthful side in her that Sidious had so often tried to suppress in vain to emerge, Nura sunk deeper in the force and clouded her presence while closing in on the unsuspecting visitors until she was right behind them; they didn't notice the black figure.

Apart from Dooku, the Sith apprentice hadn't met anyone of them personally though she recognized one of the two Neimoidians and a Geonosian as Nute Gungray, the viceroy of the Trade Federation and Poggle the Lesser from her research and lessons about the galaxy. The only other ones that radiated competency and danger were the man in Mandalorian armor and the boy next to him; they felt strangely similar yet different, a phenomena that made her curious.

It was then, when Gungray turned to face Dooku that he brushed her gown.

"How dare you tough me, slave?!" It was obvious that he was used to people bowing and obeying him.

"Answer me!" Darth Imperia didn't say a word. Something her master had taught her at a fairly early age was that silence was often more threatening than volume. Instead, she simply crossed her arms in front of her chest, just lifting her robe enough to reveal the two lightsabers dangling from the belt. The Neimoidian froze.

"I-I am so sorry..." he sputtered excuse after excuse until the apprentice just brushed past him and stood at the front of the tribune to watch the spectacle. She could feel the utter fear for his life in the force as a reaction to her indifference about his excuses.

Meanwhile, down in the arena, Geonosian guards were chaining the three prisoners to pillars. The senator from Naboo immediately scrambled to action and discretely freed herself from the bonds with the pin from her hair; unnoticeable to anyone who didn't know.

Then, at the wink of Dooku's hand, three creatures were brought into the arena: they were unknown to Nura but the names weren't important in this case. It was clear from the situation and their physique alone that they were predators being given their food.

Geonosian riders wrangled them towards their prey and the action began. Nura was impressed of how the two Jedi handled the attacks and within a span of a few seconds freed themselves from their shackles and gained the upper hand: the creature with the horns knocked out the small one that had been attacking Amidala because Skywalker had created a makeshift halter for it out of his chain, Kenobi injured the six-legged animal with a spear he had ridded a guard of Gungray became more and more frustrated with the process of events. During the whole time, the force gave me a reassuring feeling, a feeling that everything was right, even when the three prisoners on the creature were surrounded by Droidekas ready to end it all. Though there was a slight edge of something being out of order.

The sound of an activating lightsaber caused Imperia to dart around, one hand automatically moving to her lightsaber and was presented with the sight of a purple lightsaber only inches away from the throat of the Mandalorian's throat: Jedi Master Mace Windu. Well, that explained the odd feeling from the force. But as powerful as he might have been, while having the upper hand, he did a stupid thing: he only focused on Dooku and ignored everyone else, looking the former Jedi directly into the eyes.

"Master Windu, how pleasant of you to join us" Dooku greeted him in a friendly voice, no malicious trace in it; the answer of the Korun master being hard and final.

"This party is over" The bright flash in the force was accompanied by the sound of activated lightsabers; a lot of lightsabers and with that, Nura could feel the presences of multiple hundred Jedi who had hidden in the arena.

"Bravo, but foolish, my old Jedi friend, you are impossibly outnumbered" It sounded kind of like friendly banter a part of Nura's brain registered while the rest of it was busy with analyzing the meaning of Dookus's words. The battle-droids! It was a trap, not one for the white-haired Sith in front of me, but for the Jedi... and they were completely in the dark about it.

"I don't think so" his voice brimmed over with confidence and ignorance; exactly the traits that Sidious had implied would be the downfall of the Jedi. All of our attention was suddenly directed to two super-battle droids marching into the tunnel from behind the Jedi and immediately started firing.

Skilled, he deflected the bolds but he forgot to be mindful of his rear. Impera stretched out her hand, grabbed him with the force and threw him over the balcony down into the arena. She had no illusions: she was his enemy and he would kill her if he had the chance. So it was better if there was a distance between the both of them.

Down in the arena, the situation had worsened: All of the Jedi were being subtly rounded up in a place with no cover. When only about fifty were left, Nura held up her hand guided by the force, causing the droids to cease fire.

Lucky for her, Dooku jumped right in because he knew that the other Sith shouldn't reveal her voice and did the only thing explaining the cease-fire: offering a final opportunity for the force users to surrender or die. Imperia didn't know why exactly Windu refused this offer: They might get captured, even be sold as slaves, but surely death wasn't necessary. And still, the force radiated with tranquility. A second later, she heard strange sounds und moments later, ships of unknown types descended and rained laser fire down on the droid army whose programming was overwhelmed for a brief second before returning fire; fire the men in white armor gladly returned.

Nura's POV

A brief warning in the force was all I got, but it was enough: Diving to the left, I drew my lightsabers without activating them because Dooku gestured to the hallway.

"Time to go" he said still perfectly calm and we jogged down the hallway. Admittedly, he still was in impressive shape for a man of his age and I had to remind myself not to judge him based on his age; I was the best example for why that would be futile.

Upon arriving at our vehicles, two Geonosian aircrafts were ready to accompany us as an escort. So we mounted our speeders and took off, me being a few feet behind and left of the Count's side. We took a path that led along the edge of the battlefield to avoid confrontations as best as possible because our speeders themselves weren't armed.

But the force was only partly with us because a few minutes after takeoff, an enemy aircraft spotted us and followed in pursuit. I sensed two strong presences on it: Jedi!

"Time to change the plan" I thought while typing in a code into the comlink on my left wrist. It was the code for my ship's autopilot to fly to my coordinates. Then I broke out of the formation and headed to the left. Now pilot in the Republic's ship would have to decide whom to follow and they acted as expected: They chose Tyranus. Inwardly, I grinned. They thought he was the bigger thread. Maybe even that I was only the apprentice and wanted to take down the master.

When I was sure it was safe, I reduced the velocity and landed. It didn't take long until a spot appeared in the distance which, upon coming closer, revealed itself to be the Scimitar. It hovered above the ground so I could jump onto the open ramp, leaving the speeder behind; it would only hinder me because of its lack of weapons, velocity and armor.

Now came the difficult part: Getting past the planetary defenses and into Hyperspace. Just as I entered the verge of Geonosis' atmosphere, the realization how big the army of the Republic really was. The sky was filled with ships of various sizes between which star fighters either defended their own or attacked the enemy's formation.

"Attention, this is shadow one in the Star Courier Scimitar. Request escort to break enemy formation" I used the code my master had given me for situations like this: It was a code programmed into each and every droid in the army to support me however possible. And sure enough, two squadrons of Vulture class fighters turned to follow my request and fell in line around me.

Needless to mention, the Republic's fighters noticed the behavior of the droids and correctly assumed that an important person must be on the ship. Soon, I evaded laser bolds whizzing around me, the droid fighters occasionally performing suicide maneuvers to take out ships that came too close. Flying past the middle of their formation proved to be the most difficult part and it took all my concentration to evade the fire.

Then, just like this, it was over. I had passed the blockade and hit the button that would propel me into light speed.


	4. There can only be two

Once in lightspeed, I let myself fall back into my in the pilot chair and took a deep breath to calm myself down. I felt the adrenaline spiking in my blood causing a thrilling feeling surging through my body. Normally, this was the how I usually felt after an especially exhausting training, only less intensive.

I pulled back my hood and stripped out of my cloak, leaving it on the chair. Whew, finally, fresh air! It had been exhaustingly hot on that force forsaken dust ball! Ok, my dislike for Geonosians may or may not play into that opinion...

Beep, beep! A diode on the console in front of me started blinking and beeping, indicating the reception of a foreign message. It was a level one encryption, the highest one my ship currently supported. In some other cases, this might indicate the sender of it, but there were only two people that knew my com code and both of them were Sith: Tyrannus and Sidious.

It was text only, so I touched the screen to open it. It was short and succinct and only comprehensible to people that knew what it spoke of.

 _Meeting in 5 hours._

Only 4 words and yet I knew immediately what was meant. My master wanted me to come to our usual meeting place, probably to discuss what had happened today. Maybe he would finally introduce me to his full plans. Don't get me wrong, I was aware of the fact that he was the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and thus a very influential figure, but apart from that he hadn't told me much.

The only logical conclusion that would explain the meeting would be to induct me in his plans or to ask me about today's attack on Geonosis. Maybe 'or' was the wrong word? Was that part of his plans as well? If one thing had become clear in the past, it was that Sidious was a mastermind, planning and plotting, hiding and scheming his best traits. Or worst, depending on the side you were on.

But I would be more clever in 5 standard hours, so spending time thinking about it wasn't my top priority now. Instead, a strange noise escaped from my belly. It was already past lunch and my body started reminding me of that. So the logical course of action was to go to the fridge, get a support ration and warm it up in the heater. And no, the support ration didn't taste well, hardly even acceptable but it had to suffice: Nutritious, warm and a good texture were its best traits.

With my meal ready, I switched on the HoloNet and started watching the latest news, as always presented by a gorgeous blonde moderator. I snorted, the only thing she represented to me was a puppet, controlled by those behind the cameras. In one of my lessons, my master had made me aware of that and I had found a truth in it: More often than not, the one's talking on television with important voices and serious faces usually weren't the one's in charge or with power, but rather manipulated by those who possessed both the traits they lacked.

 _"I have just received the news of an emergency broadcast live from Chancellor Palpatine's office..."_

Ah, trust the media to be quick. A little too quick, but that might have been just my perception. Other's may think of it as just a immediate reaction from a competent and reliable leader.

I listened to the broadcast, but unsurprisingly, nothing new was mentioned. Nothing new, except a clone army that had been created for the Republic's cause out of nowhere. Clones... admittedly an ingenious idea, they could have been engineered to be superior to normal soldiers and trained for their whole life. That rose the question just how long they had been developed and planned to defend their creators. Well, I would definitely find out. I spent the rest of the time watching the news and quite a funny show where people switched planets for a week and had to life under the same circumstances as their partner. I didn't watch those shows often but I had to pass five hours and that seemed like the best way to do it. Meanwhile my nav-computer was in autopilot, flying to Coruscant on a predefined route that would take us out of hyperspace close to our destination a little before the meeting was to take place.

Actually, time passed quite quickly and before I noticed, the ship's computer beeped to indicate that the ship would arrive in a minute; so I went back to the cockpit, put on my robe that still lay in my seat and put it on. The fake identity seemed to work, but a double check wouldn't do any harm; definitely not as much as if someone would recognize the Scimitar as the ship it was. Now, I flew under the name "Nura Slanging" on the ship "Dagger", a simple worker who would take jobs here and there whenever the need for it arose.

As always, the identity worked flawlessly and after a few routine checks I descended into Coruscant's artificial atmosphere towards the old, deserted hangar. As the doors recognized my ship's signature, they opened automatically to let me in and closed afterwards. Double-checking I had everything on me, I walked out after letting down the ramp.

A dark figure stood half hidden by the shadows.

"Master" I sank to a knee and bowed my head, waiting for the signal to rise which he gave shortly afterwards. It took a little longer for him to do so, just a fraction, but it was clearly noticeable. The question was, why?

"Darth Imperia, we've got much to talk about." He started walking and I hurried to walk next to him. "How did the ... issue on Geonosis go?" he didn't waste any time beating around the bush and directly jumped to the point while looking ahead, the visible part of his face not giving away any emotions.

"I haven't seen much, but it seemed that the forces of the Techno union and the trade federation didn't fare too well" the picture of gunships obliterating various droids in the arena came to my mind.

"How did the Republic create such a large army without us noticing?" It was a calculated question, designed to make him reveal anything he knew about the attack. Sidious stopped and half turned his head towards his right, looking at me. His eyes narrowed for just a tiny bit as if he pondered about something. Then, without any warning, he thrust his hand forwards.

I felt like being hit with a solid rock and was flung backwards right at a wall. The force behind the push was so big that an impact would have broken my back if I hadn't used the force to lessen it. Still, it hurt and for a moment it drove me to my knees. I once breathed in and out, then stood up again.

"Master?" he just stood there, hands by his side and looked at me.

"It has become obvious..." his voice echoed inside the hangar "that you don't think of me as that anymore. Master..." he snorted. "No, don't you think your defiance, your wavering loyalty would remain unnoticed. Noooooo..."

Slowly, an uneasiness overcame me; he hadn't spoken to me like that in a long time. What did he mean with weakness? Unconsciously, my hand wandered to the second lightsaber dangling from the left of my hip.

"Yesssss, don't you think that I wouldn't notice the change in your fighting style... it clearly showed that you have been training with two sabers now. You dare walking next to me like an equal instead of an apprentice. Yes, I have to admit that you surpassed my expectations and now... it is time to see if you can surpass me!"

Suddenly, his hands were holding two lightsabers, their surface shining in the dim light. But if he'd taught me one thing during my apprentice hood which was now obviously over, it was that the Sith should survive. And I knew he had a hidden agenda.

"And what of your plan, what if it dies with you?" His smile seemed to widen.

"Don't worry, this is how it should be. There can only be two and in the unlikely event of your victory, you will continue the path of the Sith..."

With an inhumanly growl, he jumped at me and at the same time, I jumped back which gave me time to ignite my two lightsabers. Thank the force that I had brought both of them.

"You... _dare_ use this color?!" His voice dropped with disgust as his gaze was drawn to my shoto. It was the unbroken tradition for a Sith to only use synthetic red crystals for our weapons.

"Traitor!" he lunged at me, lightsabers slicing through the air at an incredible speed. I blocked one strike that would have amputated both of my legs, then one aimed at my head. Barely. It seemed he had been holding back during our training. Using the same technique he had only seconds ago, my outstretched pushed him away; he dug the blade of his weapons in the ground and came to a halt a few meters away. It was a lesser distance than expected, but it gave me time to sink deeper into the force. Or so I thought.

Without even deactivating the sabers, Sidious stretched out both of his hands and sent lightning at me. Still concentrated on the force, I just managed to get up one of my hands in time, absorbing part of the lightning. The other part met its target.

An agonizing pain seared through the lift side of my face and I screamed. I dropped my lightsaber and now used both hands to protect myself for what could have been only seconds but felt like minutes. Finally, it stopped.

"You are _weak._ " He threw the words at me like they were meant to hurt... and they did. More than I'd imagined. Tentatively, I touched the burned side of my face. My left eye was melted shut and I couldn't feel anything. Maybe all the nerves were burnt, but certainly adrenaline had its fair share in it as well.

But now was not the time to care about injuries. Calling my lightsaber back into my hand, I readied myself. Now hatred flowed through me, to get revenge for the lightning. Stop, I reminded myself. Use the whole force, not only a part of it. I centered myself, letting the force wash over me, bathing in both the light and the dark side. Hot was paired with cold, hatred with serenity and it felt... good.

Sidious may be a master of the dark, but he had made one crucial mistake. He was arrogant and wanted to revel in his victories. That was a fault that had saved my life in this moment, because he had missed his opportunity to end this fight before it even began. And he seemed to sense this, because a new wave of anger surged through the force as he attacked again.

But this time, I was ready. Well, it wasn't exactly me. The force flowed through me and guided my body, I just let the movements happen. That's what the force was: A guide, it didn't force the movements on someone and I could have resisted at any moment, but I didn't.

Attack, block, attack, block. Sidious slashed and thrust, his movements so fast that they were barely visible. And yet, I still stood here, alive and mostly unharmed. He slowly began getting exhausted, I knew this. His attacks were just fractions slower than usual. And still, I hadn't attacked.

Then, there was an opening when he hurled his blade down from the right. With the red lightsaber I blocked the strike and with the blue one I impaled him; his movements too slow to deflect the strike.

The lightsaber deactivated and dropped to the floor. Sidious stood there, an unbelieving look on his face; he knew it was over.

Suddenly, the force flashed with a warning and from the corner of my eye I saw something silver. It was the hilt of a lightsaber, having been hidden in his sleeve as a last resort. Pointing it at my belly, he activated it just as I moved to the side.

He almost missed. It graced my skin slightly, enough to leave a mark that was deep, but not lethal or handicapping. That was his final strike, the last deceit of his before he fell to the ground, his life vanishing; almost cut in half by my lightsaber which had still been buried in his chest when I moved.


	5. Aftermath

I just stood there, panting, my chest heaving up and down, over and over again until, supporting my brain with oxygen that it desperately needed to comprehend the situation. At my feet lay the dead body of my former master, almost sliced in half by his own actions. Breathe, in and out. What should I do now? The thought entered my mind and didn't leave it, swirling around like in an endless loop.

I'd always known that I wasn't the perfect apprentice for I wasn't as sinister and cruel as Sidious had wanted me to be. I guess somewhere down, the wish to create my own path, to shape my own destiny had been hidden.

Now, I've been robbed of this desire, it had been ripped right out of my chest. I was the current Lord of the Sith now, the new heir to the Bane dynasty.

A beeping interrupted my thoughts, it was quiet, yet audible enough that one would not miss it. It came from... the now blood-drenched robe in front of me. Having never had a problem with blood, I bent down and looked for the source of the strange sound. I found it in a hidden pocket, it was a... holoprojector?

Some old Sith had once said that curiosity often get's you killed, before he'd ironically been squashed by an old temple while searching for the source of a irregularity in the force.

Well, but this couldn't do any harm, could it? Turns out, it couldn't, because when my bloody hands found the activations switch, it didn't explode or unleash some last revenge of my former master but instead a hologram of said person appeared.

"Darth Imperia" the hologram hesitated, "if you watch this message, I am dead and you are alive and my assumptions that you are not worthy enough to follow in the footsteps of the ancient Sith have been proven wrong. You are now the new Lady of the Sith. To prevent my plans from failing, I've recorded them for you to pursue."

From there, he went on to tell me about his plans, but I paused the recording. It might seem illogical at first, but it would have definitely been selfish and stupid to not give them to your successor. And while selfishness was a Sith trait, stupidity most definitely was not.

My finger was hovering above the play button, ready to uncover Sidious' plans and really, I was about to touch it, when the force whispered a warning. Or actually, it was more like the waves in the endless ocean that was the force became stronger, fiercer and higher. It wasn't a sign of immediate danger, no, because in that case I would have my lightsabers activated already but it felt like something was about to come. Or someone. Upon reaching out with my senses in the direction of the slight disturbance, I felt multiple presences approaching. Some rather dull while others were shining brightly: The Jedi and clones. They must have felt our fight, however brief it might have been.

They would arrive here in less than two minutes! Thinking quickly, I made a decision that almost came instinctively and was what anyone would have done in my situation: I ran to the ship intent on getting out of this hangar before all way outs would no doubt be blocked. Already one boot on the ramp, I hesitated and turned around, surveying the scene in front of me one last time, Sidious' dead figure bleeding on the ground. Should he remain here? It would be a warning, a thread not to trust anyone, but would it do any good? His corpse would undoubtedly show that he had hidden something from the Jedi and even they could figure out what an outburst of force energy and the chancellor clad in Sith robes meant. No, the Republic would crumble under the knowledge that one man had lead two armies against each others like a puppet-master. And I couldn't have that yet! Haven't listened to my former master's plans for the future, I didn't know what it would bring. All those thoughts shot through my head in a second and led me to a decision. Quickly, I dashed into the back of the ship and opened one of the crates just waiting to be opened.

In one of them, I found what I wanted: A silver cylinder that didn't look close to dangerous at the first glance, at the second glance however, if one had the chance to get one, the small inscription on its back described it to be a quite efficient bomb.

Not bothering to leave the ship, I just bend outside and threw it remotely in the body's direction, called Sidious' lightsabers into my hands because the blast wouldn't destroy thm, then hurried to get to the cockpit and start the engines who came to life with a roar. Force, how I loved the modifications that I'd made just a month ago!

In a flow of movements that were safely integrated in my body's muscle memory, the ship hovered above the ground then dashed out of the hangar doors which barely had time to open. The sparks that showered over the cockpit window were prove enough, but no systems had been damaged. Courtesy of hours spent in the simulator and in real life training scenarios.


End file.
